


Symbols and Legends

by theprydonian_archivist



Category: Doctor Who
Genre: Character Study, Episode: s03e13 Last of the Time Lords, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-01-11
Updated: 2009-01-11
Packaged: 2018-07-15 01:10:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7199354
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theprydonian_archivist/pseuds/theprydonian_archivist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>As Shakespeare once asked: What's in a name?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Symbols and Legends

**Author's Note:**

> Originially written for the LJ community prompt "Works of Shakespeare"
> 
> Note from Versaphile, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [The Prydonian](http://fanlore.org/wiki/The_Prydonian). Deciding that it needed to have a more long-term home, I began importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project in June 2016. I e-mailed all creators about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact the e-mail address on [The Prydonian collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/theprydonian/profile).

Koschei the Immortal, the Deathless. His soul lives on, separate from his body. Nothing may harm him. Nothing. He lives only for hunt, for war, for battle. They call him evil, and ugly, a riding skeleton. Really, no one knows him. He is only part of the cold, dreadful landscape and the whispers of myths across a stark land. Koschei. Immortal. Powerful. 

When he adopts the name, it is not a form of flattery or hero worship. It is a promise. Immortality. Power. He gives his soul away and knows its keeper will never have the courage to destroy it. (In another myth, it is his hearts that he offers, and the guardian swears to never break them.) Regenerations that all good students strive for are mere fancy. He does not need them to live. 

Theta was once written to symbolize the soul. It is fitting, the boy now called Koschei knows. He gives his friend this name after he discovers him cowering from the schism.

The symbol his fingers etch onto the flesh of his lover’s back, years later, after “Sigma” had attached to the name, stands in place of the sun. Fire. Warmth. Destruction. His Theta is a thousand suns, everlasting, and beautiful. Somewhere in the universe, an intelligent group of apes down from the trees learns to cower at the sight of this symbol. Death, it warns. Death is near. This isn’t a lie, for wherever Theta is, Koschei will surely be. Immortal. Powerful. And always within reach of his soul. 

Long after they shed their names, when the lifeforce once called Koschei burns, the being once called Theta wonders, if Koschei could not live without his soul, could his soul live without him? He supposes, as the bones split open under the heat, he will learn.


End file.
